


Sem's Danganronpa Family AU

by gothgirlnexdoor



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Dangan Ronpa: Another Episode, Dangan Ronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: F/M, Fanchildren, M/M, One Shot, Short Stories, fanchild, it's mostly fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-01
Updated: 2019-08-07
Packaged: 2019-12-30 15:55:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 16,430
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18318500
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gothgirlnexdoor/pseuds/gothgirlnexdoor
Summary: Basically a collection of short (or less short) stories of my fanchildren. Hope you'll like them!





	1. Welcome to the world (Hagakure Kiyomi & Hagakure Hiroyuki)

May 17.  
The nurse had a “normal” work shift that day. Well, “normal” for people that weren’t nurses. Start working in the morning, go home sometime late afternoon. Unlike the nurses best friend, who started early noon and was able to leave by late at night.  
“Hey Miwa.”, the nurse greeted her co-worker at the reception.  
“Just wanna let me know your leaving, Hiro?”, she asked with a smirk.  
“Exactly. Today was crazy. I’m glad to relax for a bit.”  
“Yeah, well, before you do that-“, Miwa turned a computer screen a bit, “-that’s your name, isn’t it?”  
She pointed at some Kanji, that spelled Hagakure, “concealed among leaves”.  
First name “flower sound”, Kanon.  
“Kanon? That’s my daughter-in- WAIT, WHY IS SHE HERE?!” 

Hiroko Hagakure was a nurse at the local hospital. She had been working there ever since she graduated high school. The main reason why she was able to become a nurse was her best friend Miwako, Miwa for short, who got her the job. Miwa’s mother used to be the head nurse back then when both of them were hired.  
Hiroko had a son named Yasuhiro, who was happily married to his wife Kanon for the past few months. The three of them had been living in an apartment complex, which Kanon owned. Of course she had to pick an apartment for herself and her family. Free rent.  
A few months ago, the married couple had an announcement for Hiroko. And oh boy, was she excited.  
That announcement might have been the reason why Kanon had to pay the hospital a visit. 

Miwako clicked on Kanon’s name to see further information. She quickly read through it.  
“What does it say, what does it say?!”, Hiroko asked impatiently.  
Miwako just shot her a smile.  
“For real?!”, Hiroko smiled back.  
“Room 3-19.”, Miwa gave her best friend the information she needed to find her daughter-in-law.  
Hiroko ran up to the elevator, that coincidentally let out a few people. After everyone had left the lift, Hiroko jumped inside and pressed the button to the third floor. No one else entered the elevator, the nurse was all on her own for the thirty seconds it took for her to reach the third floor.  
When she exited, she encountered two other nurses. She had been working with them almost all day, so they were quite surprised to see the pink haired nurse still being in the hospital building.  
“Huh, not going home, Hagakure?”, one of them asked on confusion.  
“I was about to, but Hanase-“, Miwako, “-told me my daughter-in-law was here.”  
“Oh yeah!”, the second nurse remembered, “Room 19! We just got back from there!”  
“Wait, her name was Hagakure as well?”, the first nurse asked.  
“Yeah! I wasn’t sure though if she was related to you or not. You only have a son, right?”  
“Mhm.”, Hiroko nodded, “He’s married.”  
“Makes sense, hehe. Well, we won’t stop you any longer then! Also, congratulations!”  
The nurses smiled widely at Hiroko before waking away to go back to work.  
After taking a turn to the right, Hiroko reached a hallway with many doors. Even room numbers were on the left side, uneven on the right. She picked up a faster pace, to a point were she was speed-walking. Running wasn’t allowed, unless there was an emergency.  
13, 15, 17, 19. 19 was one of the four private rooms in that area for patients that had private insurances, that would cover the cost. It didn’t surprise Hiroko that Kanon had picked one of these rooms. She had always been a bit on the luxurious side of life.  
One quick name-tag check, just to be safe. And indeed, it did say “Hagakure, Kanon”.  
Hiroko knocked a few times.  
“Come in.”, came out of the room. It sounded a bit weak, but that wasn’t concerning, considering what Kanon went through.  
The mother-in-law slowly opened the door.  
“Hey, sweetie!”, she quietly greeted before closing the door behind her.  
“Ah, Hiroko?”, Kanon, who had been laying on a hospital bed, upper body slightly upright, clearly didn’t expect Hiroko to walk in. She had a bundle of blankets in her arms.  
“Shocked to see me?”, Hiroko slowly approached the bed.  
“I expected Yasu to come.”, Kanon explained.  
“I was hopin’ for him t’be here already. Seems like no one contacted him yet.”, the nurse sat down on the chair, that stood next to the bed.  
“I would call him, but I forgot my phone at home.”, Kanon let out a sigh, “And also pretty much everything else. I was in a hurry.”  
“Who brought you here in the first place?”  
“Ishida. He was on his way to work, but Yasu asked him to check up on me before leaving. The timing couldn’t have been better. But all of that aside-“, Kanon slightly brushed a hem from the blanket aside, to reveal a small, sleeping face, “-say hi to your granddaughter.”  
“Aww!”, Hiroko held back tears, “Look at her!”  
The announcement a few months ago was that Kanon was expecting a baby. Hiroko was extremely excited and equally proud of her son and his wife.  
The married couple had set on not knowing what the baby’s gender was going to be, until the day it was born.  
Turned out, it’s a daughter.  
“What’s her name?”, the now grandmother asked.  
“Well, we don’t really have one yet.”, Kanon embarrassingly admitted.  
“How come?”, Hiroko raised an eyebrow.  
“We thought of a few names, but nothing seems to fit quite well, you know?”  
“Huh, okay...”  
“How did you come up with a name for Yasu?”  
The nurse shrugged her shoulders. “It was the first thing that popped in my mind.”  
“What, really?”  
“Yeah. The day I gave birth to him, I was sittin’ on the bed, holdin’ him in my arms. Exactly like ya right now, actually. I looked at him and the first thing I said to him was “Hey there, little man.” He smiled at me. And I swear, it was the most precious thing I’ve seen in my 14 years of life back then. I didn’t know his gender either until I got him out of me, y’know? So I didn’t have a name yet. “I can’t call you little man all the time.” - I said to him - “How about Yasuhiro?”. And again, he smiled at me and that’s when I knew, on the first try, that was the perfect name.”  
“Aww, that’s adorable!”, Kanon smiled, “I said every possible name we had out loud and she didn’t smile at any of them.”  
“Hm. How about we get your husband to come over here?”, Hiroko searched her pocket for her phone.  
“Yeah, good idea.”  
“To be honest, it was a bit of a stupid idea to leave ya alone like that.”  
“I don’t blame you guys. The calculated due date would have been in a week.”  
“Well, those things just give you a general time for when to expect the baby. There’s always plus-minus one week or so.”, Hiroko explained while looking for her son’s contact on her phone, “Trust me, I’ve heard many women say that their child was a bit too early or a bit too late, even though it wasn’t, really. Ah, there we go.”  
She finally found the contact. With one tap on the screen she called her son. 

Two men had been standing in a music store, which belonged to one of them. It was closed that day, for inventory. They were almost done when one of them felt a buzzing in his pocket.  
“Wait, Leon, my phone’s ringin’.”, he said, “Might be Kanon.”  
When he got the phone out of his pocket, he checked the display, to see what name it was showing.  
“Oh-?”  
“Who is it, Hiro?”, Leon asked.  
“My mom.”  
Yasuhiro picked up and greeted immediately with a “Hey mom, what’s up?”  
“Hey sweetie!”, Hiroko greeted back, “Are ya still at work?”  
“Yeah, but we’re almost done with inventory. Why?”  
“Oh, I was just wonderin’.”  
“Why, did somethin’ happen?”  
“Uh, yeah, ya might wanna come to the hospital.”  
“Wait, mom, what happened?!”, Yasuhiro clearly became nervous. Even Leon had a worried expression on his face.  
“What do ya think happened?”  
“I dunno?! That’s why I’m askin’!”  
Hiro always had been on the more air headed and dense side of things. He didn’t really understand hints because of that.  
“Yer a dad!”, Hiroko then brought the news.  
“...”, Yasuhiro was speechless.  
“Yo, what’s the matter?!”, Leon asked nervously.  
“Hiro, sweetie, yer still here?”, Hiroko asked her son.  
Tears rolled down the former Ultimate Clairvoyant’s cheeks.  
“Yer not lyin’ t’me, right?”, he sniffled.  
Hiroko let out a small laugh.  
“I’m not! Really!”, she reassured her son.  
Yasuhiro closed his eyes, pressing a few more tears out, and held his mouth shut.  
“Hiro?!”, Leon now started yelling. He still had now idea what was going on. Hiro just handed him the phone and walked away, towards the cash register.  
“Hiroko?!”, Leon took the call.  
“Oh, hey, Leon, how are ya?”, Hiroko asked as if nothing had happened.  
“Why do you sound so calm? What happened?”  
“Y’know what, Hiro should tell ya.”  
“Well, he’s a crying mess so-“  
“I expected that. Don’t worry, no one died. Quite the opposite actually.”  
“Opposite?”  
“Just get to the hospital. My battery’s low. Room 3-19, see ya.”  
“Hiroko-“, too late. She hung up.  
“What the fuck...?”, Leon whispered to himself as he made his way to his best friend. Yasuhiro had been leaning onto the counter, face hidden in his hands, his glasses laying next to him.  
“Hey, dude.”, the former Ultimate Baseball Player put a hand on his co-workers shoulder.  
“I-I promised I wouldn’t cry!”, he muffled into his hands.  
“Wait, did Kanon...?  
Hiro nodded. Leon let out a huge sigh of relief.  
“And I thought something bad happened!”, Leon grabbed Hiro’s arm and pulled him lightly, “Let’s go! Come on!”  
Hiro wiped away his tears with his sleeve and put his glasses back on.  
“But we’re not done here.”, he sniffled.  
“Who cares?! We can take care of that tomorrow, let’s go!”, Leon then dragged the taller one out of the shop.  
After locking the door and activating the safety system, Leon opened the car with a click of his remote control keys. Him and Yasuhiro lived in the same apartment complex, of course Kanon had an apartment saved for her brother-like-cousin as well, so the two men took one car to work. It was Yasuhiro’s car, however, Leon didn’t trust Hiro to drive right now, in the current happily sobbing state he was in.  
The hospital wasn’t that far away from the music shop Leon and his wife Sayaka owned. Ten minutes at max. That wasn’t enough time for Yasuhiro to calm down though.  
“Hey, you good?”, Leon asked as he parked the car in the hospital’s parking lot.  
“Yeah, yeah.”, Hiro lifted his glasses and wiped away more tears.  
“Really?”, Leon teased.  
“Stop it!”, the now new father punched his best friend’s arm.  
Leon completely understood how Yasuhiro felt. He had become a father himself about half a year ago. Also a daughter, him and Sayaka named her Sasha. The day Sasha was born, December 6th, Leon was overjoyed as well. He shed a few tears of happiness as well, but he was able to contain himself better than his best friend.  
“Let’s head inside.”, Leon suggested. He seemed to be the more clear minded in the moment anyways. 

Even though Leon knew where him and Yaushiro had to go, they still had to walk up to the reception and say that they would like to visit someone. To Hiro’s surprise, Miwako was the one welcoming them.  
“Mini-Hiro!”, she cheered.  
“Wait, why does this woman call you “Mini-Hiro”?”, Leon asked.  
“That’s Aunt Miwa. She calls my mom Hiro, that’s why I’m Mini-Hiro.”  
“You have an aunt?”  
“It’s kinda the same thing as with you and Kanon. Except that mom and Aunt Miwa are sister-like-best friends, and not sibling-like-cousins.”  
“Nice explanation, Mini-Hiro.”, Miwako joked, “Also were you crying?”  
“Don’t mention it, otherwise he might start again.”, Leon joked as well.  
“Shut up, Leon.”  
“Alright, alright, before you two start fist-fighting each other, room 319.”, Miwako told the two men the room Kanon was currently laying in. Of course they knew already, but Miwako couldn’t have known that Hiroko told them.  
“Thanks!” “Thanks Aunt Miwa.”

Unlike Hiroko, Yasu and Leon decided to take the stairs. Mainly because the elevator was pretty full, and they didn’t feel like squeezing into such a tight space. Plus they weren’t as tired as the nurse, so they had enough energy to take the steps up to the third floor.  
Well, Leon had. He had the stamina due to being the former Ultimate Baseball Player. Yasuhiro on the other hand was already out of breath when he reached the second floor.  
It forced them to take a short break once they reached their desired floor.  
“Wow, I guess we should have taken the elevator.”, Leon joked as he waited for his best friend to calm down and regain a steady breath.  
“Well, excuse me Mr. Sportsman, not everyone is as trained as yer are.”  
“Hey, I haven’t played in years!”  
“That’s a lie.”, Hiro slowly was back to normal, “Ya can’t wait for Sasha to be able to walk so ya can throw baseballs at her.”  
“Yeah, yeah, whatever.”, Leon waved it off as if it wasn’t true what his best friend just said, “Let’s go to the room already. I’m sure Kanon is waitin’ for you.”  
The two made their way to the room Kanon was staying in.  
“There we go, 319.”, Leon pointed at the doorplate. Hiro wanted to knock. But couldn’t bring himself to.  
“What’s wrong?”, his best friend asked.  
“I can’t knock.”  
“Yeah, I can see that. You’re nervous?”  
Hiro nodded aggressively.  
“Alright, lemme do it.”, without skipping a beat, Leon knocked at the door three times.  
A few moments later, a woman with pink hair opened the door.  
“Hey, Hiroko.”, Leon greeted casually.  
“Hi, you two! Come in!”, the nurse smiled.  
“You go first.”, the former sportsman stepped back to let Yasuhiro in first.  
“A-ah no, it’s-“, nervousness returned to Yasu’a body and mind.  
“Come on!”, Hiroko grabbed her son’s wrist and dragged him inside.  
They took a few steps inside. Yasuhiro however abruptly stopped when he saw his wife and his child on the hospital bed.  
“Hey.”, Hiro whispered, eyes widened in disbelief.  
“Hi, come here.”, Kanon waved at him to come closer, “Say hello to your daughter.”  
Hiro hesitated a bit, fumbling with his fingers, but then slowly made his way to the chair Hiroko had sat in prior. He held onto the side of the bed and carefully sat down.  
“She’s so small...”, was the first thing he had to say about his child. Kanon let out a chuckle.  
While the new parents were occupied with the still sleeping infant, Leon and Hiroko had a conversation on their own.  
“Did he cry a lot?”, the grandmother joked.  
“Like a waterfall.”  
“Aww. Well, ya didn’t really have dry eyes either when yer child was born.”  
“Pff, I didn’t cry that much.”  
“Leon, sweetie, I helped Sayaka with givin’ birth. I saw you sobbin’ how happy ya were.”  
“... Don’t tell Hiro.”  
“I won’t.”  
“Wait, what’s her name?”, back to the married couple. Yasuhiro was wondering why Kanon hadn’t told him the kids name yet.  
“Well-“, Kanon didn’t really know how to tell her husband that the child didn’t have a name yet.  
“Mind if I make a suggestion?”, Hiroko suddenly butted in.  
“Wait, why?”, Yasu asked in confusion.  
“Uh, nothing we came up with didn’t really fit...”, Kanon then admitted.  
“Really?! We had like 20 names!”  
That was an exaggeration. It was a handful at max.  
“I know...”  
“Huh... What do ya have in mind, mom?”,  
Hiroko stepped closer to the child, leaving Leon at the foot end of the bed.  
“What about...”, she pushed a bit of the blanket out of the child’s face, “Kiyomi.”  
The baby smiled at the sound of the name.  
“Ah!”, Yasuhiro exclaimed, “She smiled!”  
“Kiyomi it is then.”, Kanon metaphorically set it in stone. 

 

About 14 years later, the same family found themselves in the same situation again. Kanon was even in the same room again. 319.  
June 1st.  
This time around, it was a son, Kiyomi’s younger brother.  
However, Kiyomi, wasn’t even near the hospital yet. Her, Sasha, who she lovingly called her “cousin” (since Leon and Kanon were “siblings”), Yui and Jinpei we’re still at school.  
Yui and Jinpei Oowada were the kids of the former biker gang leader Mondo and former moral compass Kiyotaka. They were born in America, and even raised there for the first five and six years of their lives. Once they moved back to Japan, Mondo got a job as a carpenter, he even has his own carpentry now. Kiyotaka became a teacher at a college for politics. He still wanted to become prime minister, but until then, he’d be teaching the next generation.  
Kiyomi knew her mom was in the hospital. She was the one who asked Mondo to bring her there earlier that morning. Hiroko wasn’t able to because of her night shift at the hospital. Yasuhiro already left for work with Leon and Sayaka. Mondo was pretty much the only option. But he had to leave for work as well right after he dropped Kanon off.  
When Kiyomi left the school building, her phone made a *ping* sound.  
“Yo, wait, I got a message.”, she got her phone from her skirt’s pocket, “Might be my mom.”  
“Oooh!”, her friends commented.  
“Now we can battle who’s the better older sister, Yui.”, Kiyomi joked.  
“But... my brother isn’t a baby anymore.”, she pointed at Jinpei, who was only about a year younger than her.  
“Heh, yeah, I know, I know.”  
Kiyomi unlocked her phone and checked her messages.  
“Ah.”, she exclaimed.  
“What is it, what is it?!”, Sasha was ecstatic. She had been waiting for her second “cousin” ever since the announcement.  
“Chill, it’s a message from grandma.”  
She opened it and read quickly through.  
“Tell us, Kiki!”, Sasha grabbed Kiyomi by her shoulders and shook her back and forth.  
“Yeah, yeah, yeah! Stop it, Sasha!”  
Sasha took a step back and looked at Kiki with anticipation. Even the Oowada siblings were curious now.  
“Sasha, drumroll please.”, Kiki asked her cousin. She slapped her thighs in a fast rhythm for a few seconds. The moment she stopped, Kiki announced what happened.  
“It’s a baby brother!”, she cheered.  
The other three celebrated the new family member.  
“Okay, guys, calm down.”, Kiki said, “We need to get to the hospital somehow.”  
“I feel like four teenagers in a small hospital room won’t be any good for both mother and child.”, Yui interfered, “Maybe you two should go alone.”  
“Also it’s not like our apartment is right across yours, Kiki.”, Jinpei smiled.  
“True.”  
“We’ll head home then.”, Yui bowed slightly, “Say congratulations from us.”  
“Sure! Bye!”  
“Bye bye!”  
The siblings turned around and waved the cousins goodbye.  
“Okay, how the hell are we getting to the hospital?”, Sasha asked right away.  
“We could take-“, Kiki was interrupted by a red car parking in front of them.  
A man with red hair, similar to Sasha’s, waved at the girls from the drivers side.  
“The timing couldn’t be more perfect.”, Sasha laughed, opening the car door for Kiki to go inside.  
“Why thank you, Miss Kuwata.”  
“No problem, Miss Hagakure.”  
Kiki crawled inside, scooting to the other side, sitting behind her sobbing father.  
“Hey dad!”, she greeted him.  
“H-Hey Kiki.”, he greeted back, sniffling.  
She knew he was a very emotional person.  
Sasha finally entered the vehicle as well, and the moment she closed the door, Leon stepped on the gas pedal.  
“So, how was school?”, he asked casually, as if Hiro wasn’t even there.  
“Boring.”, Sasha replied, “As always. So, is Uncle Hiro okay or...?”  
“Don’t worry, that’s normal.”, Leon answered. Sasha gave Kiki a questioning look. She just nodded at Leon’s statement. 

About half an hour later the four arrived at the hospital. Yasuhiro had calmed down in the meantime.  
This time it was a random nurse that greeted them. Miwako must have a day off or was busy somewhere else.  
The group took the elevator to the third floor this time around.  
Once they arrived at the room, Kiki knocked three times.  
“Come in!”, came from the inside.  
The young teen opened the door and spotted her grandmother first. Hiroko looked exhausted. She was probably on her way home before she got told that Kanon was in the hospital again.  
“Ah, she brought the entire family.”, Hiroko noted. Probably to warn Kanon.  
Kiyomi, followed by Sasha, rushed into the room.  
“Whoa there, careful.”, Hiroko warned.  
“Sorry grandma!”, Kiyomi scratched the back of her head, “I’m just excited.”  
“Come over here then.”, Kanon gestured that her daughter should sit in the chair next to the bed. Pretty much ignoring her husband who just entered the room as well, accompanied by Leon. Hiro decided to go to the other side of the bed, opposing to Kiki.  
“Hey there little dude.”, she quietly talked to her little brother. He was too tired to react though. So was Kanon. She was ready fo get a few hours of sleep as well.  
“What’s his name?”, Sasha asked. Her and Leon kept a small distance between the Hagakure family and themselves. Otherwise it might be too much stress for the newborn.  
Kanon glanced over at Hiroko. This time around, her and Yasuhiro left the name picking to the grandmother again.  
“Hiroyuki.”, Hiroko said.  
Of course, as if giving names was some sort of commando Hiroko had, the tiny boy smiled as a reaction.  
“Another Hiro?”, Leon joked, “It just keeps getting more and more!”  
“Wait, why did grandma pick the name?”, Kiyomi asked in confusion.  
“The day ya were born-“, Hiroko started to tell Kiki the story of her name, “- yer parents had a few names for ya. But nothin’ really fit. I asked if I could make a suggestion.”  
“So you named me Kiyomi! But why?”  
“I looked at ya and I knew yer pure beauty.”  
“W-whoa.”, Kiki didn’t expect that explanation, “What does Hiroyuki mean then?”  
“Everyone in this room here is smilin’. So I decided on widespread happiness.”


	2. Reika

A sigh.

_“Mom, for fucks sake-“_  
_“If ya stupid ass really wants to go back to school again than go live with yer dad, who’s been neglectin’ ya for the past 20 years!”_

“ _His shift should be over soon_ my ass.”

_“Why are ya lookin’ for him?”_  
_“‘Cuz he may or may not have made me about 21 years ago. On accident.”_  
_“Wow, and he always told me to be careful.”_

Another sigh.  
She’s been waiting in front of the apartment door for good two hours now. She was told that the person she’s waiting for should be home soon.  
But what exactly meant “soon”?  
The “soon” she knew was usually hours later. She had more hopes in her dad. On the other hand, that’s the same dad who didn’t even know that he had a 20 year old daughter.

Maybe we should start from the beginning.

One night stands aren’t a rarity. Especially when you’re a gang leader.  
But as a gang leader you usually get away with it. It’s the behavior society expects.  
In some cases, people have to deal with what resulted from those afore mentioned one night stands. Sometimes it’s diseases, sometimes it’s a child (or two, if you’re **that** lucky)  
Reika was one of those results. She knew from the very beginning that her mother was just - oh - so happy to have a daughter.  
“Stupid brat.”, wasn’t that a lovely nickname? Reika has been called that on a daily basis. Although she preferred “Rei” as a nickname.  
As if life wasn’t already bad enough for Rei, right after graduating middle school she was forced to work at her uncles car shop. Proper education wasn’t a thing that was popular in her family.  
Rei liked cars. She liked how they were built. Everything in a motor had to work properly, the parts had to be in harmony with each other. Otherwise the car won’t move forward. Or break down at one point.  
Rei’s family was nothing like a working motor. Her mom was a broken piece, her dad was missing, and she herself... She had no harmony with anything. But her family seemed to be beyond repair anyways.  
“What the fuck are you makin’ that long face for?”, Rei’s uncle wasn’t exactly nice. Just like the mess that was her mother. They were related after all.  
Rei played with the thought of quitting her job and visiting high school for a long time now.  
And today was the day she would finally do it.  
“Ya know what, uncle? Fuck it, I quit.”, she dropped the wrench she had been working with right in front of her uncles feet and left the shop.

She packed her big sports bag, just in case, because she knew how her mom would react.  
“REIKA!”, speaking of which.  
“WHAT?!”, the young adult yelled back.  
“GET YOUR ASS OUTTA HERE, YA STUPID BRAT!”, there it was again.  
Rei left her room, only to face her angry, cigarette smoking mom in the living room.  
“What?”, Rei snapped at her.  
“My brother told me ya quit yer fuckin’ job?”  
“Yes?! Because I wanna go to high school?!”  
“God fuckin’- no high school would accept ya anyways!”  
“Mom, for fucks sake-“  
“If ya stupid ass really wants to go back to school again than go live with yer dad, who’s been neglectin’ ya for the past 20 years! I’m sick of this!”  
“I don’t even know who the fuck my dad is!”  
“Ugh-“, the mother rolled her eyes and took a smoke to calm down, “Just look for the Oowada brothers. The older one created the mess that is ya.”  
“Wow, I feel really loved.”, Rei flipped her mom off and turned around to walk back to her room.  
“At least ya could thank me?!”, her mom yelled at her.  
“Thanks, bitch!”, were Rei’s last words to her.

“The Oowada Brothers were the leaders of the biggest, most fearful biker gang in Japan, “the Crazy Diamonds.” Before the younger brother Mondo attended Hope’s Peak Academy as the “Ultimate Biker Gang Leader”, the older brother Daiya retired from his position. After graduation, Mondo decided to retire from his position as the leader as well. [...]”  
The information the mom gave Rei wasn’t quite enough for her to find her dad. But after a quick search, she found an article online, that wrote about former gang leaders and, supposedly, about her father.  
“Sooo-“, Rei stared at her phone, not paying attention on where she was going, “Mondo is the younger brother... That means Daiya is my dad?”, Rei stopped walking for a second, ignoring the two people behind her who almost ran into her, “Hm... I’m not even surprised my dad doesn’t know about me. I hope he won’t be too shocked.”  
She swiped on her phone, she had the article screenshotted, to find the picture that was in the article as well. It was the Oowada brothers, in complete gang attire. Must have been a rather old picture. Rei looked up from her phone to scan the area she had arrived at. She landed in the business district.  
When the young adult turned her head to the right, she spottet a sign that said “Oowada - Carpentry”. She stared at it for a few seconds.  
“... Sweet! That was easy.”  
She entered the shop just to be greeted by a teen boy, sitting behind what seemed to be a reception desk, who was painting a piece of wood. He didn’t react to Rei coming in. Probably because he had earphones in.  
Rei came closer to the desk. After a few steps, the boy noticed her, removing the earphone from his left ear.  
“Welcome!”, he greets, “How can I help you?”  
“Yeah, uh, I’m looking for whoever is the older one in this picture.”, Rei showed the boy the picture of Daiya and Mondo. She didn’t know which was which though.  
“Oh, you mean Daiya?”  
“Yeah.”  
“He doesn’t work here. But Mondo does. Should I get him?”, the boy pointed at a heavy lookin metal door.  
“That’d be awesome, thanks!”  
He opened the door and loud machine noises came out. The boy looked displeased.  
“Not a big fan of loud things, huh?”, Reika teased.  
“Yeah. There’s a reason why I’m painting here instead of downstairs where my dad is.”  
“Dad?”, Rei thought out loud. The boy luckily didn’t hear it.  
The teen disappeared behind the metal door. The noises stopped soon after.  
A few moments later a tall, muscular man stood in front of Reika.  
“How can I help ya?”, he smiled.  
“Uh-“, if the younger brother was already that tall, how tall must the older brother be? Reika herself was only 1,70m.  
“Uhm... Jinpei told me yer lookin’ for my bro?”, the carpenter slowly asked.  
“Oh- Oh, yeah. Where can I find him?”  
“Why are ya lookin’ for him?”  
“‘Cuz he may or may not have made me about 21 years ago. On accident.”  
Mondo took a moment to process what Rei had just told him. He then chuckled.  
“Wow, and he always told me to be careful.”  
“I mean, good thing he did, otherwise ya would have unexpected children as well.”, Rei joked.  
“Well good thing that both of my kids were expected then.”, Mondo joined in with the jokes, ruffling Jinpei’s hair.  
“Daiya is probably at work right now.”, Mondo then told her.  
“What does he work as?”  
“Vet assistant. Sometimes also volunteers at the local shelter.”  
“Aw cool! I love animals!”  
“That’s good because he owns five dogs.”  
Rei didn’t even meet her dad yet and she already liked him more than her mom. But one thing was strange. About Mondo.  
“How come yer not completely flippin’ yer shit?”  
“Because of ya?”  
“Yeah.”  
“I was kinda expectin’ that to happen. That my brother had a kid he didn’t know of. He always did the things he didn’t want me to do.”  
“Oh....”  
“But don’t worry. He’s a good guy. He raised me after we ran away from home after all.”, Mondo wrote down the address to Daiya’s home on a sticky note and handed it to Reika, “It’s actually not that far from here. His shift should be over soon.”  
Before Rei left the carpentry, Mondo explained her the directions to Daiya’s home.

It was an apartment complex. Daiya lived on the north side on the first floor, according to Mondo’s note. And who would have known, the sign beneath the doorbell read “Oowada”.  
She rang it, just to be safe, but all she heard was barking coming from the inside. Lots of barking. A mix of “deep woofs”, “small barks” and everything in between. Daiya must have owned several different dog breeds.  
Rei sat down, sliding down the wall next to the door, waiting for Daiya to return from work.  
Which took a while.  
Rei let out a sigh.  
“ _His shift should be over soon_ my ass.”  
She sighed again. She checked her phone one more time. Just to see if she received any messages.  
Nothing.  
Not surprising.  
“Uhm...”, a deep voice suddenly popped up.  
Rei looked up, facing a very confused man carrying a white plastic bag. Probably take out.  
“Can I help ya?”, he asked.  
“Oh, yeah, uh-“, Reika quickly stood up and unlocked her phone to search for a picture.  
“Ah, there!”, she turned the screen towards the man. It showed a picture of Reika’s mom.  
“Ugh, this bitch.”, was his first response. He must remember her.  
“Yeah. This bitch. Well, that’s- That’s my mom.”  
“She actually found someone who made a kid with her? Poor bastard.”  
Was he really that stupid?  
“Yeah, that poor bastard is you?!”, Rei finally spilled the beans.  
“... Me?”  
“Yeah?!”  
“Are ya sure?”  
“Yer Daiya, right?”  
“What if I’m Mondo?”  
They did look quite alike.  
“Nah, he was the one who gave me yer address.”  
“Shit-“  
Daiya clearly didn’t know what to do with the situation.  
“Yeah, let’s just- let’s go inside first.”, the former gang leader got his keys out of his pants pocket and unlocked the door with a shaky hand. Rei picked up her bag from the floor in the meantime.  
The moment Daiya opened the door, the two of them were greeted by various dogs. Mondo didn’t lie, it really was five dogs.  
“Yeah, yeah, papa’s back.”, Daiya tried to calm the dogs down, “Go sit!”  
There were several different breeds, but the one that stood out for Rei was the small Maltese. Rei couldn’t help but pet the tiny fluffy canine.  
“It seems like ya like dogs, huh?”, Daiya put the plastic bag on a small couch table.  
“Yeah...”  
“Good, good.”  
The apartment wasn’t all too big. But for one man and five dogs, it was more than enough room.  
Daiya sat down on the couch and searched inside the plastic bag for the chopsticks the restaurant gave him for his food. Reika dropped her bag and sat down on the floor.  
“What’s the bag for?”, Daiya asked while unpacking his take out.  
“Mom threw my out.”, Rei sadly pet the Maltese’s belly.  
“Aaaand now yer hopin’ to stay with me?”  
“Yeah...”  
At least she didn’t want money, was Daiya’s first thought.  
“I don’t even know yer name yet. Or anythin’ else.”, the vet assistant took a bite from his food.  
“Reika. Rei, if yer lazy.”  
“How old are ya?”  
“20.”  
“High school graduate, huh?”  
“No... I never went to high school.”  
“Ya never- I mean, I never went to high school myself but I had a little brother to take care of. What happened?”  
“Mom’s a bitch.”  
“Yeah, we already established that. No but really, what did she do?”  
“She forced me to work at her brothers car shop. She thought I’d be more useful like that.”  
“... What a bitch.”  
“Why do I get the feelin’ that this won’t be the last time we refer to her like that?”  
The two of them laughed. That quickly shifted to awkward silence.  
“Well-“, Daiya poked in his food, “I can’t really throw ya out as well, right?”  
“Ya let me stay?!”, Rei’s eyes were filled with hope.  
“Yeah. Yer not the first one I picked up from the streets. How do ya think I got a gang together back then?”  
Rei jumped up and attacked her dad with a hug.  
“Whoa there, okay, okay-“, Daiya tried to keep his balance. It didn’t seem like Reika would have let go so quickly.  
“Hey, can I eat my food? I gotta walk the dogs, y’know?”  
“Oh! Yeah right.”, Rei let go and sat down on the couch.

About half an hour later Daiya and Rei hit the streets, along with the five pets, which clearly were in the need of fresh air.  
“Okay, so we gotta establish some rules.”, Daiya pointed out.  
“Of course.”  
“So. Ya will go to high school. And yer gonna do the homework ‘n shit.”  
“I mean that’s what I want so...?”  
“I’m just sayin’ that because I have this little bother who was always too lazy to do his shit so I had to force him. He didn’t even want to attend Hope’s Peak when he got the invitation.”  
“He didn’t?”  
“Yeah. But good thing I made him think otherwise. I’ll take care of which high school yer goin’ to, so ya don’t hafta stress about it.”  
“Thanks. But I kinda doubt any high school would accept a 20 year old.”  
“Believe it or not, Mondo has a friend like that. So nothin’s impossible. He also went to Hope’s Peak. Other than that. If ya bring home some guy, be quiet. And maybe be safe too.”  
“What if I don’t-“, Reika struggled to finish that sentence. The last time she opened up like that she was called sick in the head and that it was just a phase.  
“Hm?”, Daiya looked at her with a questioning expression.  
“Uh- what if I don’t like... guys... like that?”  
“Oh.”, no yelling. Yet. “Then lemme rephrase that: If ya bring home some chick, be quiet and safe.”  
“Yer super chill with that?!”, Reika was clearly surprised.  
“Why wouldn’t I be? Ya have met Mondo right?”  
What does Mondo have to do with this, Reika thought.  
“Yeah? But-“  
“Let’s visit him.”, Daiya suggested.  
“Okay...?”

They arrived at another apartment complex, but this one seemed to be having four apartments only. Unlike the one Daiya lived.  
The apartments also seemed to be much bigger. Probably for families of three or four. Maybe even five.  
Daiya rang a bell.  
“Hello?”, a female voice came from the speaker.  
“Hey Yui, It’s yer favorite uncle!”, Daiya jokingly responded.  
Right after that a buzzing sound came from the door. Daiya and Reika entered the building, with the dogs waddling after them of course. They walked along the hallway until they reached a door, where a girl, presumably Yui, was waiting for them.  
“Ah, you brought someone!”, she pointed out.  
“Yeah, I’ll introduce her in a bit. Can we come in?”  
“What niece would I be if I said no?”, Yui stepped aside and let her uncle and his company in.  
Again, they were greeted with barking.  
“Another dog!”, Rei spotted a big, white, fluffy dog, which was occupied with greeting the five dogs they had with them.  
“Yup. Looks like Fluffy’s doin’ quite well.”, Daiya smiled.  
“Maybe we should let them out into the garden.”, Yui opened a glass sliding door and all the dogs immediately ran out to play.  
“I will keep an eye on them. Father is in the kitchen.”, she then told Daiya.  
“Alright!”, Daiya guided the way to the kitchen, where Rei expected to see Mondo.  
But, oh boy, was she surprised. Instead of Mondo, it was another man, who looked clean cut with his almost-only-white attire and neatly styled hair. He had glasses on too, that added something to the clean look as well.  
“Ah, good evening Daiya!”, he greeted.  
“Hey Taka, how yer doin’?”  
“Quite fine! Thank you for asking!”  
He talked exactly like he looked.  
“Mondo hasn’t returned from work yet.  
Seems like he’s doing some extra work.”  
“That’s fine. I got time.”  
“Okay wait, hold up.”, Reika interfered. The two men looked at her confused.  
“Are ya tryin’ to tell me that my uncle is married to a man? Like. Husband ‘n shit?”  
“He doesn’t really look like a wife now does he?”  
Reika quickly scanned Taka.  
“I mean, his ass does look like a wife’s-“  
“I didn’t know you had a daughter, Daiya!”, Kiyotaka panically put his attention to his brother-in-law, before Reika was able to finish her remark.  
“I didn’t know either until like an hour ago, don’t sweat it. Her name’s Reika by the way!”  
All Rei had to contribute was a cheeky smile and a wave.  
“It’s nice to meet you!”, that remark made Taka quite flustered, “I’m Kiyotaka. But feel free to call me Taka.”  
“Call me Rei then! Also sorry for the remark.”  
“It’s- It’s fine.”, Kiyotaka still had some blush on his cheeks.

Reika decided to join Yui outside in the garden after drinking some coffee with her dad, and her uncle.  
“Yo, Yui it was?”, she asked.  
“Ah, yes! What’s your name?”  
“Reika. I’m like... Daiya’s kid. Yer cousin, I guess.”  
“Oh! What a pleasant surprise! I always wanted a cousin!”  
“Really?”  
Yui nodded her head.  
“I guess yer wish was granted then!”, Rei smiled.  
“But how come we get to meet you now and not sooner?”  
“I lived with my mom until she threw me out.”  
“Oh, I’m sorry.”  
“Eh it’s okay. She’s a mega bitch anyways.”, Reika waved it off.  
“Well, then I’m glad you ended up with uncle Daiya then!”  
“Yeah! I’ve only known him for like an hour or so and I already enjoy myself much more than I did in the past 20 years with my mom.”  
“You’re 20?”  
“Yeah. How old are ya?”  
“15. I have a younger brother too, he’s 14.”  
“Yeah, I’ve met him already. Jinpei, right?”  
“I assume you’ve been to my dad’s carpentry?”  
“Yup. Pretty dope that he got from a gang leader to a carpenter.”  
“It was always a dream of his. At least that’s what father told us.”  
“Which one?”  
“Kiyotaka. Jinpei and I call Mondo “dad” and Kiyotaka “father”. That’s how we differ them.”  
“That’s clever.”  
“Thank you.”  
“... ‘s pretty cool that ya have two dads. And that y’all are so open ‘n stuff.”, Reika crossed her arms below her chest and kicked away some dirt on the ground.  
“Sounds like your mother didn’t accept you for who you are.”  
“Exactly.”  
A short silence came up, ignoring the playful barks from the six dogs in the garden. Until the door lock clicked. Without saying a word, Yui wandered inside, leaving the dogs alone. Reika quietly followed her, but decided to stand in the doorframe for now.  
“Welcome back, dad!”, Yui then greeted after the door opened. It was Mondo and Jinpei.  
The carpenter greeted back with a pat on his daughter’s head. He then proceeded to go to the kitchen, probably to get a coffee since he seemed pretty exhausted.  
Yui and Jinpei had a small chat before Jinpei noticed that there was a person standing in the doorframe.  
“Ah, it’s you again!”, he exclaimed.  
“Yo!”, Rei greeted back. The siblings walked towards her, indicating that they wanted to enter the garden.  
“Seems like you found uncle Daiya.”, Jinpei smiled at Rei. She nodded.  
“That’s really cool! But... Are you really his daughter though?”  
“Yup. Unless my mom completely bullshitted everything. But for once I hope she’s right.”  
“You do have some Oowada features.”, Yui pointed out, “Especially your eyes.”  
“Yeah, I always wondered why my lower lash is so long. But I didn’t get to be tall.”  
“Dad nicknamed you “Shorty” after you left because you never told us your name.”, Jinpei admitted.  
“Hey, I may be short compared to the rest of ya, but I can still kick ass!”, Reika defended herself.  
“... That still doesn’t tell me your name.”, the teen boy shyly noted.  
“Reika. Rei if yer lazy.”  
“Ah, what a pretty name!”  
That was the first time Reika ever heard, that her name was pretty. She never thought much about it, considering it was her mother, who gave her that name just for the sake of her having one.

The two siblings and their newfound cousin were playing with the six dogs, until Jinpei left to get something to drink for himself.  
“To be honest-“, Yui drew Rei’s attention to herself, “-I also quite glad I ended up with a female cousin, you know...”  
“Is it tough livin’ with three men?”, Reika joked.  
“It’s not only that, really. The closest female relative I have is my grandma.”  
“Only one?”  
“I don’t know anything about my dad’s parents.”  
“Uuuh, Mondo?”  
“Exactly.”  
“He did say that him and Daiya ran away from them, so I can’t really imagine them bein’ good people.”  
Yui nodded.  
“I wish I’ve had the guts to run away.”, Rei sighed, “But instead I’ve waited until I was thrown out.”  
“I can’t imagine someone being so cruel to their own child. Our parents are always so supportive of us.”  
“The thing is mom and I barely talked with each other. And if we did, it was insults and yellin’.”  
“Oh. Oh wow.”, Yui was clearly baffled.  
“I know right?”  
“You seem to take everything so lightly.”, the younger cousin noted.  
“Ah, well, what other choice do I really have?”, Rei chuckled nervously, “Like, I could cry about it all day. But who would want t’hear me whine all the time? I’m just glad t’finally be with someone who isn’t such an ass.”  
“Uncle Daiya really is a good person. It’s kind of hard to believe he used to be a gang leader.”  
“Well, Mondo doesn’t seem to be bad either.”  
“Yeah, but he still has some gang leader antics. He still swears an unhealthy amount, plus whenever there’s a problem, his first solution is violence.”, Yui laughed for a moment, “He once helped me with my homework, he ended up ripping the page out of my exercise book.”  
“Lemme guess, ever since, his tiny husband was in charge of helping with homework?”  
Yui nodded.  
“Father was always the academic one of the two. He used to be the “Ultimate Moral Compass” at Hope’s Peak after all.”  
“Wait, hold up, hold up.”, Rei stopped her cousin for a second, “Yer tryin’ to tell me that both of them were Hope’s Peak students?!”  
“Well, that’s where they met. This house is full of Ultimates. Clairvoyant, Sports Manager, Baseball Player, Idol; my uncle Ishida was the “Ultimate Barista” as well.”  
“Holy hell, this is amazin’!”  
A dog, more precisely, Daiya’s Maltese, crawled onto Reika’s lap. She pet the canine while keeping the conversation up with Yui.  
Reika always admired the students of Hope’s Peak. Both the chosen Ultimates and the Reserve Course Students. If she had the power (or the money) to, she’d be attending that future opening, prestigious school as well. But she’d be happy to visit **any** High School at this point.  
“Do ya have a talent?”, Rei asked.  
“Ah, uhm...”, the older Oowada sibling looked aside shyly, “I... wouldn’t call it a “talent”, I practiced a lot to get to where I am now, but I play the piano.”  
“What are you talking about?”, Jinpei came back, rejoining the two girls.  
“Talents.”, Rei answered, “What’s yours?”  
“My talent?”, Jinpei’s cheeks turned a bit red.  
“He paints!”, Yui proudly exclaimed.  
“Whoa, someone seems t’be proud of their lil’ bro.”, Reika joked with a smile.  
“It’s not that big of a deal...”, Jinpei started playing with the hem of his button up shirt.  
“Well, ya did paint a piece of wood when I met ya back in the carpentry. Don’t be so humble!”  
“Hm...”, Jinpei’s cheeks became more and more red.  
“His skill is exceptional!”, Yui took over, “He’s been painting ever since he was able to get ahold of paint!”  
“Can I see some of that “exceptional work” then?”  
“A-ah, sure...”, Jinpei stood up, lending both his sister and his cousin a hand. The trio walked inside, followed by the six dogs, that got tired of playing.  
While walking inside, they noticed the fathers had sit down at the dinner table, having another coffee.  
“What are ya guys up to?”, Mondo asked.  
“I’m just showing Rei some of my paintings.”, Jinpei quietly admitted.  
“Excellent!”, Kiyotaka smiled widely, clapping his hands together.  
Jinpei guided his guest towards a door, probably to his room.  
“It’s quite messy in there.”, he warned before opening up.  
“I’m used to messy.”, Rei waved it off.  
Jinpei opened the door and an evident smell of paints and other art related chemicals escaped the room.  
“The good ol’ paint smell.”, Reika commented while entering the room.  
The room was indeed very messy. Half finished paintings leaning against the closet, crunched up paper towels laying everywhere, boxes full of unorganized paint tubes, to sum it all up, it was more of an art studio than a teenager’s bedroom.  
“Didn’t father tell you to clean up a few days ago?”, Yui asked, inspecting the mess.  
“I’ve been working on the painting for Daiya the past few days! I can’t be clean **and** creative!”  
“What paintin’? I wanna see!”, Reika was clearly excited.  
“Oh, sure, wait...”, Jinpei quickly scavenged through the canvases and pulled out a medium sized squared painting. It was of Daiya’s dogs, half of them being painted, other half being sketch only.  
“Hey, this is really awesome!”, the cousin commented.  
“Thank you!”, Jinpei smiled, putting the painting down again, “Also, can you not tell Daiya I’m doing this? It’s supposed to be a birthday present for him.”  
“... When’s that?”, Rei asked quietly.  
“In two months.”  
“Oh, phew. I thought it was like, tomorrow or some shit.”  
“I like to work ahead. Sorry for the confusion.”  
“What does he like? Y’know, present wise.”, Rei then asked.  
“He’s not really the type of person to expect presents, so you don’t need to worry.”, Yui told her cousin.  
“Nah, I don’t wanna be **that** bitch that turns up with no present.”, Reika wanted to take the chance to also get some information about her father. She knew pretty much nothing, considering they’ve only spent a short amount of time so far.  
“Well, uhm...”, Yui put a finger on her chin, thinking, “Aside from the obvious-“  
“Dogs and motorbikes.”, Reika joked.  
“Exactly. He enjoys horror movies a lot.”, the older sibling then confirmed.  
“Yeah, that influenced dad quite a bit.”, Jinpei noted, shaking slightly.  
“Not much of a horror fan either, huh?”, Rei smiled apologetically.  
“N-not really. I don’t really like the jumpscares and blood...”  
“Good thing ya didn’t live with my mom. Seein’ her every mornin’ was a jumpscare of it’s own.”  
“It’s almost like no Oowada is allowed to have a mom, heh.”, Jinpei then tried to raise his mood by joking around as well.  
“Ya guys must have a mom, right? Or at least someone who birthed ya, obviously.”  
“Aunt Chrissie.”, Yui told Reika, “Her full name is Christina Smith. She’s our surrogate mother.”  
“Sounds very non-Japanese.”, Reika pointed out, being confused on why that was the case.  
“She lives in America. Women being surrogates isn’t allowed in Japan, so our fathers had to move to America temporarily.”  
“Coincidentally, Chrissie is also a carpenter.”, Jinpei threw in.  
“Yeah, that as well. Genetically, we have almost no connection to her aside from small things, for example me being a girl.”, Yui continued to explain.  
“Wow, medicine sure is advanced, huh?”  
Suddenly, a knock interrupted the banter. Jinpei went and opened the door.  
“Sorry t’Interrupt-“, it was his uncle Daiya, “- but we gotta head home now, the dogs are hungry and about to eat Fluffy’s food.”  
“A’ight, ‘t was nice talkin’ to ya guys.”, the former car mechanic made her way to her father, “Also, ya know where t’find me, Yui. Just in case ya need to talk, y’know?”  
“A-ah, sure.”, Yui smiled.  
“Well then, see ya!”  
The cousins waved back at Reika.

“So, did that answer some questions?”, Daiya asked once him, his daughter and the dogs were back on the pavement on their way home.  
“Yeah...”  
The newfound father noticed his child’s strange behavior.  
“Everythin’ alright there?”, he asked carefully.  
“Oh, yeah, yeah. Just a bit... overwhelmed I guess.”  
“Understandable.”  
“I just didn’t expect for everythin’ to work out that well!”, Rei confessed.  
“Whaddya mean?”, Daiya tilted his head in confusion.  
“That I found ya so quickly, that ya just accepted the fact that I’m yer child, all these dogs; mom never allowed me to have pets! And, like, the fact that I can be myself without ya judgin’ me. Or not acceptin’ me.”  
Daiya chuckled.  
“Look, aside from the obvious resemblance, even Taka pointed that out, I don’t see any reason not to believe ya.”, he then said with a smile.  
“That yer my dad?”, Rei asked, for clarity.  
The former gang leader nodded.  
“It adds up. Yer age and when I had somethin’ goin’ on with yer mom. I was an absolute moron when I was younger, even before I was a gang leader. So I did shit I may or may not should have done. That was sort of a problem, ‘cuz Mondo tried to be just like me. And I kept tellin’ him “Nah, man, ya gotta be yer own thing. Don’t be like me!”. Good thing he listened. He didn’t do half as much dumb shit as I did.”  
“But he still did dumb shit.”  
“Of course, he was a gang leader too.”  
The family of two laughed. They then had to stop, the group of canines found a spot they had to sniff out completely.  
“Naturally, as a gang leader, ya **don’t** hope to make a child in a one night stand. But as someone who’s now a vet assistant, I’m glad. Yer an alright kid, yer mom couldn’t mess that up. And I kinda missed being a father-role, as dumb as it sounds.”  
“It’s not dumb.”, the young woman disagreed, “Ya sound like the type of person who always had someone under yer wing. Wether it was uncle Mondo or yer gang. And now, it’s me.”  
Reika suddenly she’s a tear. She quickly wiped it away with her sleeve.  
“Even though I’m 20, I know nothin’ about bein’ an adult, aside from workin’. But I only know that because I was forced into it. So I’m glad I finally found a parent-figure, who could teach me a thing or two about how t’be a proper adult.”  
“But until then, yer gonna live yer life as a high schooler.”  
“If it works out, that is.”, the school drop out rubbed her arm.  
“Let that be my problem. ‘M sure I can make things work..”  
Daiya stepped a bit closer to Reika and embraced her in a one-arm side hug.  
“Thanks, dad.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am aware that the surrogate-thing works a bit differently from how I've told it, but that's what fanfics are for, you can bend the rules a little bit


	3. Dreams

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's been a while, hasn't it?
> 
> Anyway, here's a new chapter for y'all
> 
> Small warning: mentions of cancer and passing away  
> But I swear it's mostly fluff

Akio Momota was lazily laying on the sofa while watching some random romantic comedy-anime on TV as his father Kaito came walking in.  
“Sup dad?”, the 14-year old greeted.  
“Hi Akio.”, Kaito sat down next to his son, putting a stack of papers on the coffee table.  
“Correcting some homework again?”, Akio asked. His father worked as an astrology/astronomy teacher at college.  
“Yup, as always. Sadly I ran out of stickers...”  
“Your students are young adults, right? Do they really need stickers?”, the young boy questioned.  
“Hey, I’m just trying to be nice! Hehe.”, Kaito joked before letting out a sigh.  
“You good, dad?”, Akio grew some concern.  
“Do you have a dream?”, Kaito then asked, completely out of context.  
“Uh... Why are you asking?”, Akio sat up, pausing the anime with a quick click on the remote. Kaito sighed once again.  
“You know, I never intended to become a teacher.”, he started explaining, “I always loved space when I grew up. My grandparents would let me watch documentaries about it, they got me picture books about space. I knew from a very young age that I wanted to be an astronaut. To go to space. That was my dream.”  
“Weren’t you the “Ultimate Astronaut” back in Hope’s Peak?”, his son wondered.  
“I was, yeah. Well, technically, that was the wrong description. I was still a trainee. I never went to space.”  
“How come though?”  
Kaito looked away, so Akio wasn’t able to see his face. He didn’t want his son to see him crying.  
“Hehe.”, he tried laughing the emotional pain away, “Well, uhm... Heh... During the time i visited Hope’s Peak, I was still too young to be a proper astronaut. Not only that, when I was halfway through my last year at Hope’s Peak, my grandma told me that grandpa had cancer.”  
Tears finally made their way down Kaito’s face.  
“Right after graduation I married your mother, so that my grandparents were able to attend the wedding. Some people might say that was stupid and rushed, but honestly, it was the best decision I ever made.”, the former Hope’s Peak Student took his glasses off and wiped his eyes with his sleeves, “My plan was to leave for space after I married Maki, but I didn’t wanna leave my ill grandfather behind. I wanted to be able to say goodbye. So I stayed.”  
“What happened when he... you know..”  
“Hm... well... I was also diagnosed with cancer. Lung cancer to be precise.”  
“Wha-?! I didn’t know about that!”, Akio was clearly shocked.  
“That all happened before you were born. I was lucky though. It was still at an early stage and the chances of me recovering from it were high. And guess what?”, Kaito smiled widely, “I’m good now! Obviously...”  
His smile disappeared again though.  
“The therapy weakened me however. I wasn’t fit enough to go to space. So I was forced to give up that dream.”  
Akio never expected his father to say these words. Kaito was usually the encouraging, supporting type person. “Follow your dreams!” escaped his mouth more often than usual. But him giving up on his own dream was something Akio never expected he would do. Even if it was forced.  
“So.”, Kaito put his glasses back on, “What’s your dream?”  
“Oh, yeah, well...”, Akio scratched his chin in embarrassment, “It’s not as big as your dream but... I really wanna meet Leon Kuwata.”  
Akio was a huge baseball fan. And even though he retired _years_ before Akio was born, Leon was his favorite baseball player of all time.  
Kaito lightly slapped the back of Akio’s back.  
“A dream’s a dream, no matter how big or small!”, the normal Kaito was back again, “I’m sure it’ll come true one day!”

Weekend came around and Kaito announced a spontaneous road trip with the entire family. However he didn’t wanna spill the beans until they actually arrived at their destination.  
After twenty minutes on the train, and a short taxi ride, they arrived at a normal house. Akio expected to head somewhere more... exciting. Like a theme park, or a baseball game. But no. It was a boring house a family or two probably lived in.  
Kaito went ahead and rang a doorbell. Shortly after, a buzzing sound escaped the door, indicating it to be open.  
Kaito held open the door for his family to enter.  
“Follow me.”, the teacher then walked upstairs.  
The family of five arrived at an apartment where a woman with long blue hair was already waiting for them.  
“Sayaka! It’s been so long!”, Kaito went ahead and greeted the woman, whose name was Sayaka apparently.  
“Thank you for inviting us for dinner.”, Maki bowed lightly.  
“Of course! There’s a lot of catching up to do!”, Sayaka smiled, “We haven’t seen each other in ages! Come in, come in!”  
Sayaka closed the door behind her once the Momota family made their way inside.  
“Dinner isn’t ready yet, so please take a seat in the living room!”, Sayaka pointed to the direction the living room was.

“So uh... we were invited for dinner?”, Akio asked once the family had sit down on the sofa in the living room.  
“Yup! Sayaka and her husband were our upperclassmen back at Hope’s Peak.”, Kaito explained, “We got along pretty well, but never had the time to meet up after graduation.”  
Obviously, considering what Kaito went through.  
“Yo!”, a female voice popped up from the doorframe. Everyone turned their head to see the source of the voice. It was a young girl, around Akio’s age, with wild and fiery red hair, big dark blue eyes, rather short I height though. She smiled politely.  
“So... cute...”, Akio thought.  
“I’m Sasha!”, she introduces herself, “Who are you guys?”  
The question was more directed towards the kids and not really the adults.  
“Uh-“, Akio stuttered.  
“Takao Momota.”, his younger 11-year old brother introduced himself first.  
“I’m Mizuki!”, the youngest child, Mizuki, introduced herself next, “I’m five!”  
“You look super adorable!”, Sasha commented, “Like a little space princess!”  
Mizuki’s eyes lit up. “Thank you so much!”, she cheered.  
Takao tapped on Akio’s shoulder.  
“Huh?”, he turned towards his younger brother.  
“Introduce yourself.”, Takao reminded Akio.  
“O-Oh yeah! I’m Akio by the way!”  
“Akio, Takao, Mizuki... Gotcha!”, Sasha repeated the names to keep them in her memory quicker.  
“Mind if I join ya until dinner’s ready?”, she then asked the guests.  
“No, not at all, take a seat!”, Kaito smiled.

Around twenty minutes later, Sayaka called the Momota’s and Sasha for dinner.  
Once they made their way to the dinner room, Akio didn’t expect a certain person to be setting the table.  
A person he _dreamed_  of meeting some day.  
“A-ah-!”, was all Akio was able to get out of his mouth. He noticed his arms and legs stated to shiver. He kept looking at his dad and back to the other person.  
“Seems like you got a fan, dad!”, Sasha joked.  
“Y-y-“, the oldest Momota child choked on his words.  
“Nice to meet’cha! Kaito told me you wanted to meet me.”, Akio’s idol smiled, holding out a hand.  
Leon Kuwata. Akio couldn’t believe it. Leon _frigging_ Kuwata was standing in front of him, willing to shake his hand.  
The moment Akio took Leon’s hand, he started bawling his eyes out. He was so overwhelmed with happiness that he couldn’t contain the tears any longer.

After dinner, Sasha decided that she wanted to introduce her new friends to her old friends. For that, she went downstairs with the Momota kids, waiting in the backyard for the others. They were sitting in the grass, Takao helping Mizuki in crafting a flower crown.  
“Still starstruck?”, Sasha asked Akio, who hasn’t stopped smiling for a while.  
“Yeah! It’s just-“, Akio had to find the right words, “A dream came true!”  
“It was your dream to meet my dad?”  
Akio nodded aggressively.  
“I know, he stopped playing baseball years before I even existed,”, the 14 year old explained, “but, I dunno, I always found him awesome! I kept watching his old baseball games on repeat, I even saved my allowance to buy that one baseball card of him online. It’s was super expensive since it’s pretty rare, heh.”, he scratched his neck, “I sound like an obsessed fan, don’t I?”  
“Oh, no, not at all.”, Sasha denied, “I’ve got to know worse.”  
“Huh, how come?”  
“Does the name Sayaka Maizono ring a bell?”  
“Hmm...”, Akio thought for a second, “Ah! Of course, your mom!”  
“Yup. You probably know her as “Leon Kuwata’s wife" right?”, Sasha asked to make sure. The only response was Akio smiling sheepishly.  
“I take that as a yes.”, she laughed, “Well, she also used to be a very popular idol. Her title at Hope’s Peak was “Ultimate Idol”, obviously. And you probably know how hardcore idol-fans can be.”  
“Oh, mhm, I’ve heard some horror stories...”  
“Believe it or not, we had a stalker for a while. He followed my mom to work, stayed there all day, pretending to be a customer, and then followed her back home.”  
Akio’s eyes widen in shock.  
“What did you do about it?”, he asked.  
“The Crazy Diamonds took care of him.”, Sasha told him nonchalantly.  
“The biker gang?!”  
“Yup.”  
“H-How-?!”  
Before Sasha was able to answer, one of the two glass doors, that lead into the backyard, opened. Two teenage kids came walking out, a big fluffy dog happily waddling behind them.  
“Yui! Jinpei!”, Sasha waved. The siblings waved back, joining the other four.  
“Our apologies for keeping you waiting.”, Yui immediately said, “We just got back from walking Fluffy.”  
“She still seems to be full of energy though, hehe.”, Jinpei smiled, watching Fluffly running around the backyard before finding a spot she had to sniff out completely.  
“No worries. Kiki isn’t here yet either so.”, Sasha pointed out, “She’s probably practicing. Anyways!”, the redhead clapped her hands together, “This is Yui Oowada, and her younger brother Jinpei.”, Sasha pointed at the two siblings first before pointing at the Momotas, “This is Akio Momota, his younger brother Takao and their younger sister Mizuki.”  
“Nice to meet- OOWADA?!”, Akio jumped a bit backwards, “N-no wonder you guys were protected by the Crazy Diamonds!”  
“O-Oh, no worries!”, Yui instantly tried to defend herself and her family, “Dad retired right after he graduated from Hope’s Peak! He’s a carpenter now!”  
“However him and uncle Daiya are still friends with the Crazy Diamonds...”, Jinpei commented, “It’s like we have over 100 uncles.”  
“That’s- That’s crazy!”, the oldest Momota child yelled.  
“Well, that’s part of the name, isn’t it?”, Sasha joked. The Oowada siblings joined in with laughter.  
“What’cha laughing about? I wanna laugh too!”, yet another female voice popped up.  
“Kiki, finally!”, Sasha cheered, “What took you so long?”  
“I had to bathe Yukiki.”, Kiki explained while sitting down. She had a toddler in her arms, presumably Yukiki.  
“So, who are the new ones?”, she then asked, sitting the toddler down on front of her.  
“I’m Akio Momota, that’s Takao, and that’s Mizuki.”  
“Nice! I’m Kiyomi Hagakure, but feel free to call me Kiki.”, the older Hagakure sibling introduced herself formally. She then pat her brothers head.  
“You wanna introduce herself?”, she smiled at him.  
“Yuu gii gii!”, the small child babbled.  
“That’s his nickname.”, Kiyomi explained, “That’s the only way he can introduce himself for now. His actual name is Hiroyuki. You can also call him Hiro.”  
“Or Gen 3 Hiro.”, Sasha butted in, “That’s what I like to call him.”  
“Gen 3...?”, Akio asked confused.  
“My grandma’s name is Hiroko, and my dad’s name is Yasuhiro. That makes Gen 1 Hiro and Gen 2 Hiro.”, Kiki cleared the confusion.  
The group of kids and teens hung out for a little while, discussing hobbies and favorites, before Kaito and Maki decided it was time to head home again.

“Dad! Quick! I gotta show you something!”, Akio ran into his father’s home office. He was preparing the schedule for Monday’s class.  
“What’s up, Akio?”, Kaito asked, looking up from his papers.  
“The backyard!”, Akio yelled.  
“Huh? Did something happen to your sibl-“  
“Just come with me!”, the son grabbed his father’s arm and dragged him outside.  
When they reached the backyard, Kaito held his breath for a brief second.  
“Ta-daa!”, Akio smiled.  
Him and his siblings built an open tent in the garden. The sheet was covered in galaxy patterns, fairy lights replaced the stars. A few chairs were placed, from Mizuki yelling “ROCKET!!” it was safe to assume they were supposed to resemble rockets. A few paper lanterns were put up; they looked like planets from far away. One last thing Kaito noticed was the mountain of pillows, covered with a grey blanket. Apparently that was supposed to be the moon.  
“I know, it’s not _real_ outta space, but...”, Akio rubbed his arm, “It’s... the best we could do.”  
“It’s perfect.”, Kaito whispered loudly.  
“Y-you think so?”, Akio’s eyes started to sparkle.  
Kaito patted Akio’s head.  
“Let’s go to space already!”, the father smiled widely, shedding a tear.


	4. Half-siblings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So what if Yasuhiro's dad had more children.
> 
> Meet Jirou and Kasumi Yamaguchi, Hiro's younger half-siblings!
> 
> This is also a belated birthday gift for my fortune telling son so-
> 
> Also: TW for mentions of past abuse

“Should I tell dad the truth?!”  
“Bwa!”  
“Are ya sure?! What if he gets mad?”  
“Buuuh...”  
“But I can’t just keep this to myself!”  
“Hmm hmm.”  
“This is hard...”

  
Kiyomi Hagakure was trying to have a thoughtful conversation with her toddler brother Hiroyuki. However the small child was only able to reply in babble or one word sentences, which didn’t really help the teen with her dilemma. Plus he was most likely too young to give any form of information or help.  
“Maybe I should talk to mom first...”, Kiyomi thought.  
“Maamaaa!”, Hiroyuki understood so much that he yelled for his mother.  
“Wait, Yukiki-“  
“What’s the matter, sweetie?”, too late. The siblings mother, Kanon, already made her way to her son’s room.  
“Ah, uhm...”, the older sister stammered.  
“Did something bad happen, Kiki?”, Kanon asked, confused to why her son cried for her.  
“No! Well, I was talkin’ about talkin’ to ya and in conclusion Yukiki yelled for ya to come...”, Kiki explained.  
“What a smart kid!”, the mother of two smiled, making Yukiki clap with joy.  
“So, what’s the matter?”, Kanon sat down behind her son, facing her daughter.  
“Ya know how I went grocery shopping with Yukiki yesterday?”, Kiki reminded her mother.  
“Yes. You forgot the mustard.”, Kanon pointed out.  
“I knoooow. But that’s not the point. So...”

  
_“Alright, Yukiki, you wanna have some shoppin’ cart fun again?”_  
 _“Yaaaa!”_  
 _Kiki sat her young brother in the built in seat for little kids in the cart before she made her way inside the store._  
 _Everything went as usual when Kiki went shopping for the family._  
 _She stood in front of the juice, trying to pick one for her brother to enjoy. Until she was interrupted._  
 _“Hey, nice hair.”, a strangers voice said._  
 _“Papa!”, Yukiki cheered._  
 _Kiki looked to her right, spotting a male who did resemble her father quite a bit._  
 _“Yukiki, that’s not dad!”, she lightly scolded the toddler, “I’m sorry.”, she then quickly apologized, “Ya just look a lot like our dad. Thanks for the compliment though!”_  
 _“Sure no problem. Your dad, huh?”, the stranger fixed his glasses, “Can I ask what his name is?”_  
 _“Uh... Hagakure.”, Kiki said, “Ya may know him as a clairvoyant. He used to be a very famous one before he retired from that.”_  
 _“Is his first name Yasuhiro by any chance?”, the man asked._  
 _“Exactly! That’s him!”, the teen smiled._  
 _“That’s awesome! I’ve been looking for him!”, the stranger exclaimed with glee._  
 _“Ya did?”, Kiki questioned, “Well, he doesn’t to fortune tellin’s anymore but-“_  
 _“No, not because of that!”, the adult waved Kiki’s claim off, “How do I put it...?”_  
 _“Put what?”_  
 _“You see, well, I- I’m his brother!”_  
 _Kiyomi remained speechless for a moment._  
 _“Half-brother, to be exact.”, the stranger kept explaining, “I’m Jirou Yamaguchi. Yasuhiro and I share the same father.”_  
 _“That... does explain the similarity in looks.”, Kiki pointed out._  
 _“See?”, Jirou smiled._  
 _“I mean- I just can’t believe ya like that!”, Kiki made a point, “I know nothin’ about my grandpa. Ya could be lyin’ t’me right now!”_  
 _“You don’t- Oh, right...”, the grown man looked away for a second, expression rather sad, “Well, I know why you don’t know anything about your grandfather. I doubt Yasuhiro ever told you about... that entire situation.”_  
 _Jirou thought for a moment._  
 _“Okay, you know what? Let’s make a deal. I’ll give you my phone number and you confirm with your dad if Yamaguchi is his dad. Only if you want to that is. Cuz my sister Kasumi and I would love to meet Yasuhiro one day, you know?”, Jirou excitedly got his phone from his pocket._  
 _“Uh, o-okay...? What’s “grandpa’s” full name?”, Kiki also looked for her mobile decide in her pants pockets._  
 _“Yamaguchi Kenroy.”, Jirou told her._

  
“That _does_ sound like Yasu’s dad...”, Kanon bit her thumbnail.  
“Ya sound worried, what happened between dad and grandpa?”, Kiki asked curiously.  
“You see, your grandfather wasn’t exactly a good person. From what your father told me, he drank alcohol all day, insulted Hiroko and Yasu the entire time, even got really violent at times. Hiroko then decided to divorce him when he burned their home down.”  
“He did **what**?!”, the teen was in utter shock.  
“It is a surprise that he had two more kids after Yasu. He told me that his dad hated being a father. That’s why he treated your dad and your grandma like that in the first place.”  
“What a di-“  
“Ah! Yukiki.”, Kanon interrupted her child from cursing in front of the baby.  
“-dingus.”, Kiki finished her sentence, “So... should I just forget about this?”  
“No.”, Kanon said, “I think you should tell your dad, and maybe confirm if this is true. It’s still up to Yasu if he wants to meet his siblings or not.”  
“... I’m just scared that he might get mad though.”, Kiyomi confessed.  
“That’s to be expected though. Don’t worry, we’ll be by your side.”, Kanon stood up and picked up her son. He didn’t seem to mind.  
“Okay!”, Kiki also got up, but it was more of a jump, to hype herself up a bit. The three of them then made their way to the living room, we’re Yasuhiro was residing in at the moment. He had been watching a TV show.  
“Heyyyyy, daaaad.”, Kiki felt a bit uneasy.  
“What’s the matter, kiddo?”, Yasuhiro asked, putting his attention to his only daughter.  
“Uhm...”, the girl fumbled with her fingers, “Wh-... Why did ya never talk about grandpa...?”  
Wrong question.  
The worst.  
Kiki immediately regretted that question.  
But she didn’t know how else to start the conversation.  
“... Why are ya askin’?”, Yasu wasn’t mad. Yet.  
“It’s just- Uh- mom, help!”, Kiyomi hid behind her mother.  
“Kanon, what’s goin’ on?”, Hiro got up from his seat.  
“Kiki met someone who claims to be your brother. Yukiki even confused him for you because you seem to look so similar.”, Kanon explained briefly.  
“Please don’t be mad, dad!”, it was unusual for Kiki to be scared of her own father. Considering how kind-natured the former Ultimate Clairvoyant was.  
“Hey, hey, Kiki! I’m not mad!”, Hiro told his child with a soft voice.  
“Yer not...?”, Kiki slowly stepped out from behind her mom.  
“Of course not! It’s not yer fault after all!”, Hiro comforted her.  
“Well, we don’t even know for sure if that man was telling the truth.”, Kanon threw in, “He supposedly mentioned your father’s name to Kiki to confirm this.”  
“Hm...”, it took Hiro a bit of overcoming, “Yamaguchi Kenroy?”  
Kiyomi nodded.  
Yasuhiro took off his glasses, to wipe his eyes. He seemed to have been on the edge of tears.  
“God damn it.”, he muttered under his breath.  
“Are you okay, sweetheart?”, Kanon asked, gently rubbing Hiro’s upper arm.  
“Yeah, yeah, I’m okay...”, he responded, “Just... I dunno.”, he sniffled a bit, “I dunno how to feel about this.”  
“I’m sorry, dad...”, Kiki apologized.  
“Whaddya apologizin’ for?”, the father of two smiled sadly, “I already told ya it’s not yer fault, didn’t I? Come here.”, he waved for his daughter to give him a hug. Which she did.  
“What else did he tell ya?”, Hiro asked.  
“Ah-! Well...”, Kiki quickly broke the hug, “His name is Jirou, and he has a sister named Kasumi. They would love to meet ya, Jirou even gave me his number. But apparently he also knows what grandpa did that I ya never talked about him.”  
“Huh...”, Hiro put his glasses back on.  
“Do ya... wanna meet them too?”, Kiki asked carefully.  
“Not sure.”, her dad replied.  
“Ya can call Jirou first if that’s better.”, Kiki handed her dad her phone.

  
Yasuhiro sat outside on his porch on this mild summer day. He had his daughters phone in his hand, display showing a list of names, one of which was “Jirou”.  
“What are ya up to?”, a female voice pulled him out of his trail of thought.  
“Oh, hey mom...”, he greeted.  
“Whaddya doin’ with Kiki’s phone?”, Hiroko pointed at the device her son was holding.  
“Dad has more kids.”, Yasuhiro thought it was best to be direct with his mother.  
“Yer kiddin’, right?”, the nurse sat down next to Hiro, “The guy, who told me t’get an abortion or give ya away because he didn’t want to be a dad ever, has more kids?”  
“Accordin’ t’Kiki.”  
“And she wouldn’t lie to ya.”  
“She even knew dad’s name. **I** never told her, **ya** never told her.”  
“Hm.”, Hiroko closed her eyes for a second, “Well, do ya **wanna** talk to them?”  
“I- I dunno! That’s my problem!”, Hiro cried in frustration, “I’m scared they might be with dad, or that they might turn out like dad, or- I-I _don’t **know**_! What would ya do?”  
“I’d call’em. But to be fair, I’m a neutral party in this situation. The only person I’m a mother to is you, Hiro.”, Hiroko stood up, “Take that chance. And ya can still tell’em ya got no interest in meetin’ them and hang up.”, she then headed back inside.  
Hiro started on the phone again for a few minutes. He then took a deep breath.  
“Okay.”, he said as he tapped on the name on the display.  
“Hello? Yamaguchi Jirou speaking, who is this?”  
Oh lord.  
There he was.  
He didn’t sound so bad though.  
“Hey, uhm...”, it was clearly hard for Hiro to find the right words now, “Y-Ya met my kids two days ago, I-“  
“Yasuhiro?!”, came back from the other line. Jirou seemed to be excited. That calmed Hiro a bit.  
“Yeah...”, he replied.  
“Ah! This is great! I’m so happy to finally talk to you!”  
Yasuhiro didn’t expect that strong of a positive reaction. It felt kinda nice.  
Him and Jirou kept talking for a bit, until Kiki’s phone gave up due to empty batteries.

  
July 25th.  
It was Yasuhiro’s birthday, and coincidentally this year it fell on a weekend.  
The family decided to have a family dinner outside on the porch. While Kanon and Kiyomi were setting the table, Hiroko had a quick talk with her son.  
“Nervous?”, she asked.  
“A little... lot.”, Hiro replied, still not being able to tell a lie.  
“That’s okay.”, the nurse patted Hiro’s shoulder, “I’d be nervous too.”  
“I’m gonna quickly check up on Yukiki, he should get up from his nap soon.”, the father made his way to his sons bedroom.  
The moment Yasuhiro disappeared in the bedroom, the doorbell rang. Hiroko decided to let the guests in.  
As she opened the door she was taken aback a bit by how similar two of the guests looked compared her son.  
The first guy, he looked almost exactly like Yasuhiro. Even the glasses were the same. However we was a bit smaller and his eyes were almost black, compared to Hiro’s light brown eyes.  
The woman, even tinier in stature, had a toddler strapped to her back. Must have been her child. Her most noticeable feature wasn’t her nose-piercing or her yin-yang tattoo on her upper right arm, her eyes were a real attention catcher. While the right one was the same brownish black, her left one was a very light blue. She also had a big golden earring hanging from her right earlobe, and a matching pendant around her neck.  
The third visitor, a large, muscular guy with a black buzz cut and a few scars here and there. He must have had a somewhat rough past.  
“Welcome.”, Hiroko greeted and stepped aside, “Come in.”  
“Thank you so much for having us! I’m Jirou!”, the supposed half brother introduced himself, “You must be Hiroko then, right?”  
“Did ya dad tell ya that?”, Hiroko asked, jokingly.  
“He... did. But Yasuhiro also mentioned you in our phone call a few weeks ago.”, he explained while taking off his shoes.  
“Lemme guess, Kenroy said _a lot of nice things_ about me.”, the nurse joked once again.  
“Well,-“, now the woman who has yet to introduce herself spoke up, “-he talked about how badly he treated you and Yasuhiro. If he could, he would apologize to both of you. But he doubts that you guys wanna see him ever again.”  
“Did he now?”, the nurse didn’t really believe it.  
“I get that sounds unbelievable. But let’s not talk about it too much, today’s supposed to be a happy day.”, the woman smiled, “I’m Kasumi. This-“, she turned around to reveal a toddler in a baby strap, “-is my son Hiroshi.”  
“Oh hi!”, Hiroko greeted the toddler, “Should I grab him for ya?”  
“Yes please.”  
Hiroko grabbed the young child and handed him to Kasumi after she removed the babystrap from her body.  
“Buuuh!”, Hiroshi wiggled in his mother’s arms. He pointed to the left.  
Kasumi, Jirou and the third unknown man put their attention to where the baby was pointing. That’s when they finally encountered the main reason for their visit.  
Yasuhiro just came out of his sons room, with said son on his arms. Hiroshi must have spotted Yukiki and now wants to play with him.  
“Oh, hello.”, Hiro greeted shyly, “Didn’t expect ya t’come this early...”  
“We were just super excited to finally meet you!”, Jirou smiled.  
“You’re Jirou, I assume.”, the former Ultimate held himself back.  
“Yup! That’s our sister Kasumi, her son Hiroshi-“, he pointed at the young female adult, “-and that’s my boyfriend Mamoru.”, he then pointed at the last visitor how hadn’t introduced himself yet.  
“Yay, you’re here!”, the two females that had been setting the table outside came in from the porch. Kiki instantly made her way to Jirou.  
“Good to see you again!”, he waved.  
“Did Yukiki call ya papa again?”, Kiki joked.  
“Nope, and I think with his actual dad present he won’t do it again, hehe.”  
“And ya must be Kasumi then!”, Kiki put her attention to the mother of one.  
“The one and only.”, Kasumi cheered.  
“Yer eyes are petty cool!”, Kiki complimented.  
“Thanks! I get that a lot.”, her aunt smiled at her.  
“Hiroko, could you quickly help me with the food?”, Kanon asked her mother in law, “You guys can take a seat outside. I only have one high chair though.”, Kanon pointed out to Kasumi.  
“Ah, that’s fine, Hiroshi can sit on my lap.”, Kasumi waved it off, “I guess you’re Yasuhiro’s wife?”  
“Oh right!”, the former Sports Manager completely forgot to introduce herself, “Yeah, I’m Kanon.”  
“Nice to meet’cha.”

  
While Hiroko and Kanon were preparing the food; Mamoru offered to help because he felt like he didn’t really fit in the family reunion, however Kanon insisted that he took a seat as well since he’s a guest; the united family sat outside, getting to know each other.  
“How long have you been married for?”, Jirou asked his half brother.  
“15 years.”, Hiro replied, “We took our time with that, we didn’t wanna rush things.”  
“I was there too!”, Kiki pointed out.  
“You must have been pretty young then.”, Jirou commented.  
“Yeah, I was so young I wasn’t even born yet.”, Kiki laughed.  
The others finally got the joke and laughed with her.  
“Well, I’m glad I rushed things with my hubby.”, Kasumi sadly held onto her earring.  
“I’m... afraid to ask but..”, Yasuhiro spoke up, “Where’s yer husband?”  
“Right here.”, she removed her earring and placed it on the table, “It’s an urn.”  
Hiro’s face immediately filled with pity and regret.  
“I’m so sorry that I asked.”, he apologized.  
“Hey, no worries.”, Kasumi put the earring back, “It’s a valid question to ask. You didn’t know. My husband and I got married right after high school. Dad was scared it might end badly cuz... you know...”  
“Yeah, I was there.”, Hiro tried to joke, but it sounded more like an indirect scold towards his father.  
“Y-Yeah.. Well, long story short, my husband passed away a few days before Hiroshi’s birth.”, Kasumi finished her story.  
“What happened?”, Kiki asked.  
“Car crash.”, the mother filled in, “The dude who caused it also died. He was drunk as shit. His family sometimes visits me to see how I’m doing, which I think is pretty kind. They even send Hiroshi gifts on his birthday.”  
“That’s...”, Yasuhiro wanted to comfort his half sister in a way, but didn’t really know how.  
“I know it’s a lot. And I miss him every single day.”, Kasumi tried keeping it together, but failed, “But he’s gone. And won’t come back.”, she wiped away a tear.  
“Here.”, Jirou grabbed one of the napkins from the table that were meant for later and handed it to Kasumi.  
“Thanks.”, she dried her face.  
“Mama!”, Hiroshi seemed to show concern for his mom.  
“Mommy’s alright.”, she pat the kids head, slowly calming down, “Don’t worry.”  
The more Yasuhiro got to know about his siblings, the more uneasy he felt. He tried to ignore the fact that these two adults are related to him through the same man, who used to abuse, insult, mistreat, scare, hurt, and also traumatize both him and his mother. The same man who wanted Hiro to be gone before he was even born. The same man, who repeatedly reminded everyone that “I never wanted to be a father!”.  
However, Jirou and Kasumi weren’t Kenroy. And Yasuhiro knew that. He wasn’t Kenroy either.  
So he wanted to give them at least one chance. And so far, they didn’t seem like bad people.  
Yasuhiro tried to distract himself.  
“Jirou, how didya meet Mamoru?”, he asked his half brother.  
“Oh, well...”, Jirou blushes a bit, “It’s was a happy end to a bad situation you could say.”  
“I work as a bodyguard.”, Mamoru took over, “But every now and again I also work as a bouncer at clubs.”  
Considering his strong build and pretty intimidating look it seemed natural for him to have a job like that.  
“So, a few years ago, I went to a club the other night.”, Jirou continued, “I was alone, which was my first mistake. I ordered a drink, you can probably guess where this is going.”  
“Ya were roofied?”, Hiro asked.  
“Yup. The messed up thing about this is that it was the bartender who was paid by some dude to do that. Because I always kept my eyes on my drink after the bartender handed it to me.”  
“The bartender was fired by the way. He’d done that multiple times.”, Jirou’s boyfriend added, “I noticed somethin’ was up with Jirou the moment he was dragged out by that random guy. I took both of’em aside, called the police on the guy and took Jirou to the staff room.”  
“He stayed up all night to see if I’m okay. So to repay him I invited him to coffee and one thing led to the other, hehe.”, Jirou smiled with glee.  
“Aww!”, Kiki swooned.  
“Our next step is to get married and adopt kids.”, the half brother mentioned, “But we probably gotta have to go abroad for the latter...”  
“Ya should talk t’my neighbo-“, as if Hiro magically summoned them, one of the mentioned neighbors just happen to leave their apartment to get some fresh air in the backyard. And also to let their dog run a few laps.  
“Fwuffy!”, Yukiki cheered the moment he spotted the large white fluffy dog.  
“You wanna play with her for a bit?”, Kiki asked her brother. He nodded happily.  
“Does Hiroshi wanna play too?”, she asked her aunt while picking up Yukiki.  
“No, thanks. He’s scared of dogs.”, Kasumi explained, holing her son close.  
“Aw, okay. Then it’s just the two of us!”, Kiki then left the adults alone to play with the canine.  
“Hey Mondo!”, Hiro waved at his neighbor and also long time friend.  
“Mondo?”, Mamoru perked up. He looked over his shoulder to see if it was the Mondo he had in mind.  
“Aniki?!”, he then exclaimed.  
Mondo took notice of this old nickname and smiled as he saw Mamoru. The bodyguard got up from his seat to give his old gang boss a hug.  
“Is there a chance Mamoru was a member of the Crazy Diamonds?”, Yasuhiro asked Jirou.  
“Yup.”, he replied, “Didn’t know the former leader is your neighbor.”  
“It’s a long story.”, the former Ultimate laughed, “We’re pretty good friends though.”  
“Damn, heh. Funny coincidence I’d say.”, Jirou looked after Mamoru a bit before returning to his brother.  
“How did you and Kanon meet?”, he asked.  
“We were both at Hope’s Peak.”, Hiro said.  
“Hope’s Peak?!”, Kasumi was positively surprised, “Like, with a talent and everything?”  
“Yeah.”, the father of two scratched his ear, “Class 78, I was the Ultimate Clairvoyant. Ya could say I’m retired though.”  
“Retired? You can’t just retire from your talent!”, Kasumi scolded.  
“I mean, almost everyone here has “retired” from their talent. Except Ishida, he’s still a barista.”, the former fortune teller told the other two.  
“What do you mean- How many Ultimates live here?”, Jirou wondered.  
“Including me, seven.”, Hiro counted with his fingers, “Ultimate Clairvoyant, Sports Manager, Baseball Player, Idol, Moral Compass, Biker Gang Leader and Barista.”  
“Which one of them was Kanon?”  
“Sports Manager. I guess she still manages, but it’s real estate now.”, the male shrugged it off.  
Speaking of managing, Hiro was secretly hoping for his wife, and his mother to finally be done with preparing the food. He didn’t want to be alone with his siblings for too long.  
“I’m gonna quickly see if Kanon needs help, be right back.”, he stood up, leaving the younger adults alone.  
As he arrived in the kitchen, he saw his family decorating some cupcakes.  
“Ah, hey babe!”, Kanon smiled, “We’re almost done.”  
“Looks great.”, Yasuhiro didn’t sound as enthusiastic as Kanon hoped for.  
“Are you alright?”, she noticed her husband’s strange behavior.  
“I guess I am.”, he scratched his neck, “I just didn’t wanna be alone for too long.”  
“Did ya siblings do somethin’ bad?”, Hiroko asked.  
“That’s the weird part, they’re pretty alright!”, her son explained, “So I dunno why I’m still so... Tense? Last time I got that tense was at Yukiki’s birth.”  
“It’s a new situation for you.”, Kanon smiled weakly, “It’s normal to feel that way.”  
“Huh, guess yer right...”  
The gathering continued shortly after.  
Mondo had returned inside, wishing Hiro a quick “happy birthday”. Fluffy however decided to take a nap in a shadow under a tree.  
While both Yukiki and Hiroshi were each destroying a cupcake, Kanon and Kasumi had a conversation about motherhood, most likely. They eventually left with the toddlers, after having some snacks of course, to let them play in Yukiki’s room for a bit.  
“I know it’s none of my business-“, Hiroko put her attention to Jirou, “-but how did Kenroy and yer mom meet?”  
“Rehab.”, he answered bluntly, “Well, it was only dad who had to go to rehab. Mom works at a rehabilitation facility as one of the nurses.”  
“Yer jokin’.”, it was more of a statement than a question Hiroko threw at her sons half sibling.  
“Oh right, you’re a nurse as well!”, Jirou pointed out, noticing the to him funny coincidence.  
“So he did tell ya a lot about us, huh?”  
“Yeah. He felt like he needed to be open about his past relationship, especially since that one obviously resulted in a child as well.”, the young male explained, “Dad told us what he did to you and that it was wrong. He still feels guilty about it.”  
“Does he now?”, Hiro commented.  
“I completely understand that you two don’t believe it. And that’s okay, dad expected that. He wouldn’t forgive himself either if he had been in your position.”, Jirou told the other two.  
“But ya can’t tell me that rehab suddenly made him a family person. He _hated_ bein’ a dad.”, Yasuhiro said, undertone indicating his hatred towards the person who’s partly responsible for his existence.  
“It wasn’t really rehab that made him that way. I guess that’s on mom.”, the younger brother shrugged, “Or that he wanted a second chance on being a decent father. His old habits and behaviors still shine through every now and again, I’d be lying if I was painting him as a perfect father figure.”  
“He should have done that the first time around!”, Yasuhiro angrily yelled, “Sure, bein’ a dad at 15 is hard, but those were the good times! He became a dick when he was a full grown adult!”  
“Hiro, sweetie-“, Hiroko tried to calm her son down.  
“No!”, he snapped at the nurse, standing up from his seat, “This is bullshit! “Second chance” my ass! Why were _we_ treated like shit while _they_ get to have a good life?!”  
It was extremely out of character for Hiro to snap that hard. Even his daughter noticed that.  
“Dad!”, Kiki called out to him. Her voice brought the raging father back to reality.  
He looked at his firstborn child, took a deep breath, and muttered “I’m sorry.” before leaving the group entirely. Kiyomi wanted to follow him but Hiroko stopped her from doing so.  
“Y’know, there are many reasons why we didn’t tell ya about grandpa.”, she said, calmly.

  
Hiro had been spending the rest of his birthday with Leon, to distract from the family situation that had been happening.  
The two men went out for a bit, just to get away from the house.  
When they came back, they went separate ways right away.  
Hiro entered his apartment, hoping to only face his wife, two kids, and his mother. Oh, and also the two parrots they had.  
But aside from them, no one else.  
As he opened the door, he was immediately greeted by Kanon. She had been waiting for her husband to arrive.  
“Hey, how are you doing?”, she asked, walking towards Hiro, waiting for him to take off his shoes.  
“Better, I guess.”, he gave Kanon a hug the moment he had both of his shoes removed.  
“They’re gone. They left about twenty minutes ago.”, Kanon informed Yasuhiro. She knew that’s something he might have wanted to know.  
“Hm...”, was his only response.  
“Hiroko told me what happened.”, Kanon said.  
“I feel bad for snappin’ like that.”, Hiro scratched his ear, “Reminded me of... of dad. How he used to snap at things.”  
“Aw, Yasu, no.”, Kanon pulled her husband into another hug, a bit tighter and longer this time.  
“Hiro?”, a voice appeared behind Kanon. Yaushiro looked up, noticing his mother standing in the doorframe to the living room. The father of two broke the hug with his wife.  
“Hey mom... I’m sorry.”  
“I know, sweetie.”  
“Where’s Kiki?”  
Hiroko pointed at Yukiki’s bedroom, “Spendin’ some time with her brother.”  
Yasuhiro made his way towards the door and softly knocked.  
“Come in!”, a young female voice echoed.  
Hiro slowly made his way in.  
“Hey kids.”, he greeted, leaving the door open behind him.  
“Papa! Paaaapaaa!”, Yukiki desperately wanted his dad to give him a hug.  
The father sat down on the floor, embracing the toddler in a small hug. He pat the small child’s head.  
“Hey. Kiki.”, Hiro tried to get his daughters attention.  
“What’s up, dad?”  
“I’m... sorry for snappin’ earlier. I never wanted to be this way-“  
“It’s okay.”, Kiki pulled her knees close to her face, “I get it. Grandma told me in detail what grandpa did. If I had known that, I probably wouldn’t have told ya about Jirou and Kasumi.”  
“I’m glad ya were honest with me though.”, Yasuhiro smiled weakly.  
“They... told me that, if ya want to give them another chance, they’d be very happy to hear back from ya. Hiroshi and Yukiki seem t’be friends already.”  
“Hiwoshi!”, Yukiki cheered upon hearing his cousins name.  
“We can arrange another play date.”, the father promised his son, “But... maybe not anytime soon.”  
“They aren’t mad at ya.”, Kiki explained, “They completely understand yer reaction. But they’re hoping that ya don’t hate them.”, Kiyomi grabbed one of her brothers toys and used it to fidget a bit.  
“I don’t.”, Yasuhiro pointed out, “Not at all. They seem like good people.”  
“Then why exactly did ya... y’know... flip out?”, Kiki wondered.  
“I was hurt.”, Hiro closed his eyes for a moment, “I guess ya could say it’s jealousy. I was treated badly whereas my half siblings were treated the exact opposite.”, he then opened them again to look at his daughter, “It stings.”  
“Oh...”, it hurt Kiyomi to see her dad so... beat down. He was usually the most upbeat, and at the same time laid back person she knew. Always putting effort into everyone’s wellbeing, trying to make them feel good.  
But this time was different.  
This time it was him who needed someone to take care of **him**.  
The teen girl didn’t know what to do except for staying quiet.  
“I was hopin’ t’be done with that topic.”, Hiro whispered, “I guess not. But it’s in the past, there’s no use sulkin’ over it now.”  
“Said like a true clairvoyant.”, Kiyomu joked, hoping to lift her father’s spirited by just a tiny bit. His giggle indicated that it worked.  
“Kasumi’s right then.”, he smirked, “Ya can’t retire from yer talent.”  
Kiki was relieved that Hiro started cracking jokes again. Even though he still seemed a bit beat down.  
“That reminds me.”, Kiyomi went inside her pocket and grabbed a small box and an envelope.  
“Jirou and Kasumi got ya a present.”, she handed the box to her dad, “They wanted t’hand it to ya sometime later, but they didn’t expect ya t’leave. So yeah.”  
“Oh, thanks!”, Yasuhiro grabbed the box and opened it. Inside was a bracelet, made with wooden beads. The beads were painted black, with some gold decorative lines drawn all over them.  
“That’s pretty neat!”, he immediately added the bracelet to his arm, the same one he had already been wearing one, “But how did they know I liked that kind of stuff?”  
“I may or may not have told’em, hehe.”, Kiki smiled bashfully.  
“What’s with the envelope?”, the grown man then asked.  
“Oh. Uhm...”, the teen looked at the white paper envelope, “That... I dunno if ya wanna have that.”  
“Why?”  
“It’s... from your dad.”, she slowly held the letter towards the adult, “Jirou told me that, uh, Kenroy wanted to show up, originally, but that would have been a very bad idea probably. So instead he wrote a letter for ya and grandma. She already read it.”  
Hiro took the letter out of his child’s hand. He inspected it for a second. Nothing was written on the envelope. It was just blank white.  
“Thank you.”, Hiro said.

  
At first, it was hard whether or not he wanted to read the letter.  
It took him at least good two, three, make that four, hours to decide.  
“Yasu, it’s pretty late, don’t you have work tomorrow?”, Kanon asked her husband.  
Hiro had been outside again, holding the letter in his hand.  
“Yeah...”, he replied.  
“Let’s go to bed.”, his wife suggested.  
Yasuhiro took a deep breath.  
“One second.”, he then got a lighter from his pocket.  
“What are you doing?”, Kanon asked, in a calm voice.  
Without a verbal response, Hiro lit one corner of the envelope on fire. He watched it burn, carefully, letting the ashes fall down to the stone ground.  
He decided to not read the letter.  
Before the flame reached his fingers, he let go of the last bit, stomping the flame out on the ground.  
“You didn’t read it.”, Kanon pointed out.  
“It wouldn’t have changed anything if I did.”, Yasuhiro countered, “I will never forgive him. He will always be the person I hate the most.”  
“And... your siblings?”  
“They’re welcome anytime. Well, maybe not in the next few weeks.”  
“So you give them a chance?”, Kanon smiled.  
“Hey, they didn’t pick their dad. He just happened to be mine, too.”  
Yasuhiro looked down at the ashes, “Even if I wanted to know what dad wrote, I can ask mom. She had the guts to read it after all.”  
“It takes guts to go either way.”, Kanon held her husband’s hand and stroked the back of if with her thumb, “Both of you did the right thing.”


End file.
